From Aiken Standard:
COLUMBIA, S.C.—The South Carolina House approved a bill Thursday strengthening the state's open records law.
The bill approved 101-1 a bill barring public agencies, governments and school districts from charging excessive fees for public records and requiring them to respond more quickly. It also removes legislators' exemption from the law.
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Read More… from SC House approves strengthening open records law
From Miami Herald:
Gov. Rick Scott launched a new open records program Thursday dubbed "Project Sunburst," designed to give the public — and the media — access to the emails to and from the governor and 11 top staff within seven days of writing them.
At a news conference at the Capitol, the governor touted the effort as a great leap forward.
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Read More… from Governor launches a program to push staff emails online
From Dalton Daily Citizen:
For almost eight years, the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners has assigned liaisons to most county departments to help manage the departments and keep the rest of the board members up to date on county projects. But Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Babb says changes in the state’s open records law may lead the board to abolish any formal liaisons.
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Read More… from New open records law brings confusion, changes
From 41NBC.com:
MACON—Today, the Bibb County community and the school board got a first hand lesson about Georgia's Open Records and Open Meetings Laws.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Stefan Ritter came down to educate the school board.
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Read More… from Attorney General’s Office Talks Open Records; Low Attendance from School Board
From Honolulu Star-Advertiser:
The state Office of Information Practices hopes a bill that would grant government agencies a new right to appeal open records decisions in court would give its orders more legal clout, yet open government advocates warn that it would delay public access to information.
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Read More… from Open records advocates fear information roadblocks
From KCRG-TV9:
DES MOINES—Gov. Terry Branstad says he will sign a bill into law, changing the state's open meetings and records laws and creating a nine-member Iowa Public Information Board.
Branstad scheduled a signing ceremony for Thursday afternoon.
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Read More… from Branstad Expected to Sign Open Records Law Thursday
From Data.gov:
Join open data and open government leaders from around the world for three days of speakers, panels, and collaboration on international open government data. The conference will be organized around two tracks: policy and technology.
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Read More… from 2012 International Open Government Data Conference
Augusta – The Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, a group of individuals and organizations that advocate for open government, is praising the funding for an office of Public Access Ombudsman in the Attorney General’s Office that was included in the supplemental budget Governor Paul LePage signed into law this week.[…]
Read More… from Public Access Ombudsman position gets funded 5 years after creation
With a remix of the tried and true FOI Friday, we hereby introduce NFOIC's State FOIA Friday, available same time (Fridays) and same station (NFOIC's blog) with a few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week:
Dallas police defend email retention policy
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Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for April 27, 2012
From Federal Computer Week:
Open government watchdog groups are applauding the House passage of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) on April 25 that would require federal agencies to consistently report spending information on a new, searchable Web platform.
The legislation passed by a voice vote and will now go before the Senate. If it becomes law, it will establish standards for identifying and publishing electronic information about federal spending.
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